“Heaven forbid that I should leave her. And I heard Sweetie Pie was going to be in the movie. I thought maybe Chablis might find a cameo role.” Tinkie was grinning from ear to ear. “But you really need to step outside on the balcony.”
“Right now?” I couldn’t imagine why. We’d already been out there.
“Please,” Tinkie said.
“Humor her,” Cece instructed.
“Yeah,” Millie chimed in.
Mystified, I followed Tinkie onto the balcony. When I looked down at the grounds, I saw Graf standing on the lawn lit by the set lights. He held the lead rope of a horse in each hand, a beautiful palomino and a lovely red roan.
“He borrowed them so you and he could ride together,” Tinkie said. “He’s very much in love with you, Sarah Booth.”
I didn’t know what to say. They were beautiful animals, and the idea that Graf had arranged all of this for my pleasure was almost more than I could absorb.
“Federico said they could stay in the old stables while you guys are working here.” Cece put her hand on my shoulder. “I know it isn’t Reveler and Miss Scrapiron, but I thought it was pretty dang sweet of him. For a person ruled by vanity and testosterone, he’s a good guy.”
I blew a kiss down to him, blinking back the tears that threatened. “So this was the surprise,” I said.
“A good one, huh?” Tinkie asked.
“Yeah, one of the best ever.”
CHAPTER NINE
Dinner was a happy time of margaritas and wonderful food, cool breezes and the simple joy of being in the company of my friends, and that included Graf. I’d never considered him a compadre in the past. He was my lover, my man, my passion. But his recent actions had moved him into the column of good friend, and my heart was opening to him. I had only to think of the sweet little roan, Flicker, and the palomino, Nugget, to know Graf was special.
We all walked home, laughing and talking and teasing. When we got to the mansion, Sweetie and Chablis came rushing out of Federico’s quarters. I thought it was a little strange, especially since Jovan had arrived, and she didn’t look like the kind of gal who appreciated dog hair on her size 00 black miniskirt.
When we got closer to the door, I heard sobbing.
“What in the world?” Millie said. She had the most maternal instinct of all of us, and I could see the worry in her eyes.
“There’s a lot of emotion on a movie set,” I told her, leading them up the stairs. “Nothing to worry about.” But I was worried. Why had Sweetie and Chablis been in Federico’s suite? I was almost afraid to find out.
Once the girls were settled, I gave Graf the kiss he deserved. “I need to talk to Federico,” I said. “Would you entertain my friends?”
“Certainly. We’ll wait up for you.”
I hurried down the stairs to Federico’s room and tapped lightly on the door. When it opened, I was shocked at his face. He’d aged ten years. “Are you okay?”
He stepped into the hallway and closed the door. “I’m only exhausted. Jovan is resting now. She isn’t seriously injured, but she was badly frightened. The doctor examined her and gave her a sedative so she will sleep soundly now.”
“What happened?”
“Someone pushed her down the stairs.”
I felt the dull thud of my heartbeat. “She was pushed? For sure?”
“She insists she was pushed. She was going upstairs to look around, and she said she saw… a figure. Coming out of your room.” He swallowed and looked at the floor. “A woman with dark, flowing hair and eyes that burned like hot coals.”
Goose bumps raced up my arms and along my back. “Who was the woman?”
He shook his head. “There’s no one on the set who looks like that.”
“What happened next?”
“Jovan was frightened. She said the woman was strange. So she retreated, headed back to our room. She was looking down when someone gave her a big push. She could have broken her neck.”
“Did this woman push her?” According to the rules of the Great Beyond, a noncorporeal being couldn’t push a flesh and blood human down the steps. Only the most powerful ghosts-or evil spirits-could manipulate matter.
“She couldn’t say for certain. She took a sedative and she’s resting now. The only thing that calmed her was your dog and the other one. She felt like they guarded her-that they would sense an evil presence. She’s finally relaxing.”
“She isn’t injured?”
“Some bruises, nothing serious. But it could have been. Sarah Booth, it could have been fatal. And if the media gets word of this, our film may die. No one wants to be affiliated with a movie that’s cursed.”
The media was already blowing things out of proportion. An “attack” on Jovan would send them into a real feeding frenzy. But the problems on the set couldn’t be ignored, either.
I showed Federico my arm. “Estelle did this. She came into my room. She doesn’t want us in this house.”
“When? How?” Federico was shocked.
“Earlier today. She grabbed my arm and said her mother wouldn’t approve of us being here.” I cleared my throat. “Is she delusional, thinking that Carlita is still alive, or does she believe Carlita’s ghost is here?”
Federico sat down heavily. “The past never dies, does it?”
“No,” I said, “it doesn’t.” I spoke from personal experience.
“I’ve lied to Estelle about her mother’s death, and now I’m afraid she’s losing her mind.”
I couldn’t help that my heart rate accelerated. “How so?”
“I wasn’t truthful about how Carlita died.”
Jovan slept peacefully in the bedroom. I caught a glimpse of her through the open door from the sitting room where we were. “What really happened?” I asked.
“You see the picture of her in your room, yes?”
I nodded.
“She was a beautiful woman, lush and exotic even in that picture, where her illness was beginning to show.”
I’d never heard that Carlita was ill, but I kept silent while Federico continued.
“Carlita wanted to be something else, someone other than who she was. She suffered from the harshest of diseases. Self-loathing.” He straightened his shoulders.
“Who did she want to be?”
“Someone European. Someone tall and slender and fair. She felt too short, too curvaceous, too Latino. She wanted to be considered a serious actress, and she felt she was typecast as the femme fatale because of her looks. She thought if she was thin, she would be viewed as a talented woman instead of a woman with looks.”
I was stunned to hear this. “She was gorgeous. What a shame not to revel in that gift.”
“And she was talented, Sarah Booth. Greatly talented. I was drawn to her beauty and her talent like a moth to a flame. But no matter what I told her, she could never see those things in herself. I have no idea what she saw when she looked in the mirror, but it wasn’t the truth.”
No one ever sees the truth in a mirror, which is the power of
“The medical term is anorexia nervosa. We were living in Los Angeles for my work. I got the finest doctors money could hire. The incredible truth is that she starved herself to death.” He blinked tears from his eyes. “I’ve never endured anything more terrible. We force-fed her, we tried everything, from drugs to electroshock therapy. Before she died, her teeth were falling from her gums. To watch such loveliness descend into ruin was
